


Trinity (One and All)

by xSparklingRavenx



Category: End of Eternity | Resonance of Fate
Genre: Angst, Drabble Collection, Fluff, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-05
Updated: 2015-01-29
Packaged: 2018-02-11 21:39:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2084115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xSparklingRavenx/pseuds/xSparklingRavenx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They’re not immortal, not like Sullivan, and while Vashyron tells them not to be careless, it only takes a small slip up and that’s it. The end. No timely rescues on a rainy bridge, no boys falling out of the sky to save you again. This time, God is playing for keeps.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. #1 - #10

**Author's Note:**

> The prompts here are from Table C (50-C) here http://100-prompts.livejournal.com/82878.html  
> Of course I picked the one with 'Starlight' in it. Anyway, 10 at a time! Next time I'll update is after Thursday, because I'm away for now!

**01\. Mistakes**

And if there's one thing they can't do, it is turn back time. Gears cannot spin in reverse, words cannot be taken back, and the dead - the well and truly dead, that is - cannot be brought back from their graves. Vashyron knows this. Zephyr knows this. Leanne knows this.

Mistakes are made, army squadrons are wiped out, innocents are killed when they should live on and sometimes, leaps of faith are taken when there is no faith left. But that doesn't mean they can't be made up for. Some of the things they've done are irreversible and irredeemable, but that can still try to mend the cracks they've made in the world anyway.

Take a breath, hold a gun, learn from mishap.

 

**02\. Heartfelt**

"Hey sweetheart," Vashyron says gently to the woman beside him in Le Chit Chat Noir, sipping from his drink. She's beautiful from what he can see out of the corner of his eye, dark hair in an elegant up-do. a shimmering dress. She is also somewhat familiar. "What's a fine-looking woman like you doing down in the dumps of Level 7?"

The woman sits bolt upright at his voice. "Ah, sorry. Didn't mean to spook you." Vashyron continues steadily. "It's just, I feel like I've seen you before. I mean, I would recognize someone as beautiful as you, surely...?"

"Vashyron!" the woman hisses under her breath, and her voice is _very familiar_ and he suddenly remembers Leanne muttering something about an undercover job on her way out and that's it. Dread fills him up inside. He just hit on _Leanne._ And she's turned towards him now, glaring with murderous intent.

He's not getting dinner for the rest of his life.

 

**03\. Fading Away**

It would be easy to just give up. Stop searching every nook and cranny for some semblance of redemption  Forget it all.

Or, it _would_ be easy if Vashyron wasn't at his back every time some vague doomsday comment came out of his mouth or Leanne wasn't banging at his door every morning to get him out of bed for breakfast. It's not easy. So Zephyr gives up on giving up, because what is the point in even trying when he has those two running around doing everything in their power to try and give him a purpose.

He hears the thumping of music downstairs. A Halloween party, Leanne called it. 'Let's get shitfaced', Vashyron had opted for instead. "Don't let us wake up the neighbours," he'd told Zephyr when he'd announced he wasn't staying around for any of this idiocy.

Apparently, not all purposes have to be ones of utmost seriousness.

 

**04\. Spirit**

Leanne looks at the invitation suspiciously, narrowing her eyes and slowly peeling open the envelope. The return address has Jean Paulet's manor listed, so she should be on her guard at all times.

She's not in anyway surprised when confetti launches itself from the envelope as she opens it in a burst, snowing down all over her and the floor. Vashyron looks over from the couch and snorts. "What's that you've got there?"

She pulls out the gold paper, shaking confetti from her hair. "Party invitation," she says, reading. "For...Jean Paulet's fancy dress ball."

Vashyron laughs again. "Fancy dress, you say? A _ball?_ And we're invited? The kid's got spirit. What does fancy dress even _mean_ to a Cardinal?"

Leanne looks at the envelope and sighs. Spirit indeed.

 

**05\. Choose**

Nightmares. A hostage situation. A choice. The kid or the girl. Guns and no Sacred Sign to save them this time. You can't pull the trigger fast enough to save both of them Vashyron, the man is saying. Pounding heart. Dread.

Countdown. Better pick one, he says, or you'll lose them both. Look at you, having something to protect has made you so weak. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

Vashyron tries to pull the trigger, and wakes up with a gasp. Alive. It didn't happen. Won't happen. Can't happen. He's lived through Lucia. He won't live through losing everything again.

 

**06\. Immortal**

The Sacred Sign was only borrowed time. Their line of work is dangerous, and any stray bullet could mean the end of any of them. It is unlikely that they would be rescued again.

They're not immortal, not like Sullivan and while Vashyron tells them not to be careless, it only takes a small slip up and that's it. The end. No timely rescues on a rainy bridge, no boys falling out of the sky to save you again. This time, God is playing for keeps.

So they make the most of the days that go past in a hazy flurry. Silly things, like the rota and who's cooking what, idiotic things, like setting off impromptu fireworks by using a grenade, funny things, like tipping paint pots on each other when they're really supposed to be doing up Sweet Home, serious things, talks around the coffee table that then dissolves into irritating things because it's junked up with paint lids.

They only have each other after all.

 

**07\. Open Your Eyes**

She has a feeling she knows what they're up to. One week before Christmas and they suddenly become secretive and cloak and dagger? It's something to do with her birthday. Zephyr is horrible at hiding things and Vashyron just isn't subtle enough.

He has his hands over her eyes now, and she can hear the delight in his voice as he guides her somewhere, saying, "If this isn't up to scratch blame Zephyr," and then there's Zephyr muttering something she can't quite hear and then suddenly they stop. Vashyron pulls his hand away and says, "Check it out,"

She opens her eyes and despite living in a clock tower in the middle of winter it's _green._ Sweet Home is _littered_ with flowers of different shades in little pots. She gasps and she's grinning and Vashyron looks so utterly proud of himself and even Zephyr's got this stupid sweet smirk and it's _perfect._

"Happy Birthday," they say, and she grabs them both and hugs them as tight as she can.

 

**08\. Electrify**

At ripe old age of twenty six, Vashyron finds that certain things hit him a little harder than they used to. Looking after kids is difficult, making sure they stay out of trouble is god forsakenly hard, but keeping them out of the way in a fire fight is the _worst job ever._

Except this time it's him who's been hit, with a electrifying grenade of all things.

He's still feeling it long after they get home, sluggish and feeling like he's about to die. He drops himself on the couch and then finds he can't move. "It's awful," he moans. "I'm never going to be right again. My back's done in. You're in charge from here on, Leanne. You and Zephyr better keep this establishment running. I'm not going to last much longer like this. When I'm gone, give me a good send off, okay?"

"You sound like an old man." Zephyr says. "Oh. Hang on. That's an insult to the actual rebel leader because he was in better shape than you."

"He sounds like a middle aged guy having a mid-life crisis." Leanne amends.

Vashyron glares. "I thought I raised you to be respectful kids."

Zephyr and Leanne laugh and laugh and laugh until Vashyron levers himself out of the couch to get away from them.

 

**09\. Starlight**

A gem in the palm of her hand, synonymous with a long, happy life. Is that all it was? Was the reason she found her happiness _because_ of the stone?

But, she never knew about it. There was no placebo effect. Her happiness was her own, found in spite of the stone, not because of it. The story was just for romanticists.

She looks at the stone, and then to Zephyr and Vashyron with quartz-blue eyes. They're happy, with or without a stone, and she's known nothing but happiness being with them.

Even without the stone, if she was with them, she'd be just fine.

**10\. Sacrifice**

They'd all given up something to get where they were, willingly or not. Loss of friends, innocence, loved ones. But what if it was bigger than them, than anyone. Three people saved from death all found each other and ended up against the man who would challenge God. Surely, Vashyron thinks, it's more than coincidence.

Less than fate, because he's never had much faith.

But he'd give it up all over again to get here, because whether it was fate or chance or God's will or what have you, he's got all he could want, all he could need.

Sacrifice is to give up something for the sake of other considerations. In losing Victor he found Zephyr and Leanne.

More than coincidence, because nothing is ever by chance. 


	2. #11 - #20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To leave Sweet Home is to leave their tiny world, and the willingness to do that isn't quite present yet. So they go temporarily, enjoy the sights and sounds and colours and at the end of the day they go home to familiarity and comfort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These prompts were....really hard to write! Hopefully the next ten will be easier!  
> I tried for a bit more humour this time. Here's hoping it came out okay!
> 
> On another note, I went back through the first ten and fixed some mistakes I'd made. Nothing really noticeable though!

**11\. Honour**

Once, Zephyr didn't understand Vashyron's reasoning. The man was a hunter, and that alone was practically short hand for 'ruthless killer'. But Vashyron was more; he also had morals. Morals and murderer - not two concepts that typically went hand in hand.

Zephyr remembers a cold day only months after they'd first met, faced down with two simpering bandits. They'd run after the concise fire-fight, and Vashyron hadn't made a move to stop them.

"I don't believe in shooting someone in the back," he'd explained without Zephyr asking. "Hah, it's a coward's move. They've already given in, after all, so where would the honour be in killing them?"

What Zephyr understands now is this; Vashyron, unlike him (or maybe like him, because morals and guilt and conscience and despair) is not inherently a bad person.

It takes a lot to make up a person. A profession is only one ingredient. 

 

**12\. Bite**

"Aw man, what a mess," Leanne moans as she takes an antiseptic wipe to the angry looking teeth marks on Zephyr's arm. "What bit you? It must have been pretty big to munch through your jacket like that!"

Zephyr glares hard at the wall, so it's Vashyron who cheerfully interjects. "Stray dog with a knife outside. I saw it prowling about earlier and clearly it decided to use its teeth instead."

"Idiot," Leanne half laughs, and then wipes it over with her antiseptic. Zephyr squeaks in the most ridiculous manner and Vashyron almost laughs himself off his seat.

 

**13\. Commit**

And maybe Vashyron had never really been one for commitment. He'd never held down a real, long term relationship, or an ordinary job, and even friends often drifted away. Apart from Victor, who disappeared from his life anyway, or the army or Theresa, he'd let everything go.

The life of a hunter suits him because he picks his jobs by what he wants to do and when he wants to do it. He'd be an awful Cardinal. All those responsibilities and jobs, and all of that money and the screaming fangirls and...

On second thoughts, maybe he could commit to the life of a Cardinal after all.  

**14\. Fake**

"Look at all the quartz!" Leanne gasps excitedly as they stalk around a high-class jewellery store up on Level 1. "It's so pretty. Can you imagine how much this all costs?"

"There's a reason there's no visible price, Leanne," Vashyron points out. "Still, this probably isn't real. Imagine if someone broke a piece."

"Bam, someone drops dead." Zephyr deadpans. "Actually, that might be kind of useful. Might teach everyone to take better care of their stuff."

Leanne looks at him stonily. "Okay, okay, bad idea, bad idea. Oh hey, look Leanne! Rubies."

"Money?" Vashyron says, perking up like a dog hearing its owner.

" _Stones._ " Zephyr sighs. "Let's go that way."

 

**15\. Tender**

Cold, hard exteriors often belie a soft centre, and with them it is no different. Thick skin is a by product of their lives, their jobs, but there's always something that can break through it.

Each other, because their bond is thicker than blood, people like Pater, because he's so different to the norm and so unpredictable, people like Theresa, because she knows how to push past the walls built up by broken people.

They're human, just like anyone else.

 

**16\. Trouble**

It was a stupid idea. She's trapped beneath a piece of rubble, pinning her leg to the floor. Why had someone thrown a grenade in such a small area? They'd been split up by their opponent into different areas of the mine. She couldn't know who had thrown it, or even if...

If Zephyr or Vashyron are even alive.

She coughs, tries to move, can't. No. She can't give up. Not now, not now.

She pushes again and the rubble shifts.

**17\. Final**

"That is it!" Vashyron declares. "I have had it!"

He stands up and flips the board they were playing on. Pieces scatter everywhere, all over Sweet Home's floor. Some roll under the carpet.

"Hey!" Zephyr snaps. "I was _about to win!"_

"Exactly!" Vashyron fumes. "I had six turns of crap dice rolls, Zephyr. _Six. Turns."_

Leanne stays silent as they argue each with each other, unwilling to admit that before Vashyron threw the board, she had been contemplating doing the same thing.

**18\. Waiting**

A world of green, with golden sunsets and the wistful breeze that teases the tips of trees. This is what awaits them outside the confines of a clockwork tower.

To leave Sweet Home is to leave their tiny world, and the willingness to do that isn't quite present yet. So they go temporarily, enjoy the sights and sounds and colours and at the end of the day they go home to familiarity and comfort.

The other world will always be waiting for them to come back, after all.

**19\. Awareness**

"Oooh, what do we have here," Vashyron quips halfway through an intense gun fight. Leanne darts for cover, but he's already running over to the shining chips on the floor.

"Vashyron!" she calls desperately. "Get back!"

"I'm doing just fine!" he shouts back. "Oh, woah, whoops!"

There's a chronic bang, and a few seconds later a singed Vashyron slides in next to her. "What was that?" she hisses. "You scared the crap out of me!"

"Molotov thrown at me. Don't worry, I got the chips out okay."

She grimaces as he pockets them. Apparently he doesn't understand the meaning of 'fight first, collect valuables later'.

**20\. Turn Away**

"I'm going to buy Cafe Chelsey when the old guy packs up." Vashyron says one morning over coffee. "Just throw in the towel on this PMF business and take up making yeti steaks for a living. You'd make a great waiter and waitress pair."

"Okay." Zephyr says much to his surprise. "Let's do it."

"Really?"

"Sure. We'd only be turning everyone away at the door anyway."

"What? Why?"

"We'd never pass the health inspections with you manning the helm." Leanne explains, not looking up from her magazine. "I can barely stomach your microwave meals. Imagine the food poisoning everyone would get with Vashyron cooking."

"Psh. It'd be fine." Vashyron says, looking at the rota and noting that his name is up for dinner. He'll have to make something for real, or they'll never think he's up to it.

After a few minutes of pondering, he throws the idea away and formulates a new one. "What about Lily's Boutique?"


	3. #21 - #30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the meantime they pretend they meant the hateful things they said about one another in the heat of the moment. They're not perfect. No one ever said they were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT i've been really busy lately and I let this slip because I got stuck on the Hands of Fate prompt really badly. But here they are!

**21\. Searching**

"Are you kidding me?" Vashyron says irritably, lifting a couch on the sofa. "You lost the third coffee mug?"

"Don't look at me!" Zephyr retorts, crossing his arm. "How do you even know I was the last one with it? It was probably _you!"_

"I doubt that," Leanne chips in from beside the coffee table, emptying its contents into the bin. "You're the only one who uses it on a regular basis. And Vashyron? I don't mean to state the obvious...but I think we'd have known if we were sitting on it."

Vashyron throws the cushion down. "Gremlins." he states. "It's the only answer. The little buggers have run off with my property."

Leanne and Zephyr sigh in unison. "Gremlins," they repeat. The scapegoat for everything.

**22\. Hands of Fate**

Sometimes she wonders if things could have been different. If she'd jumped seconds earlier or seconds later. Would she have fallen to her death without Zephyr there to catch her? Would her life have ended up on Chandelier because those seconds were all God needed to decide not to save her life?

And what if Zephyr had died back at the Seminary like he was supposed to? Or, if she thinks back further, what if Vashyron had been killed in the army? Would another hunter have taken the job? Would his bullet have done the job where Vashyron's failed to?

If a butterfly made of cogs bats its wings in Ebel, will a tragedy befall Albona? Because Vashyron survived, is that why she and Zephyr did also?

They're intertwined in more ways than she can ever imagine.

**23\. Irresistable**

"What are you doing?" Zephyr asks with disinterest as he watches Vashyron try and fail to keep his pan fire under control. "Do I need to call an evacuation order for 11th Street?"

"No need to worry!" Vashyron calls back, sounding strained. "Just trying to figure this stir fry thing out. Ladies love a guy who can cook."

Zephyr contemplates a trip out to Cafe Chelsey for dinner. Less chance of food poisoning and near death from out of control fires there.

**24\. Easy**

The gun shakes in Leanne's hand the first time she uses it in the Arena. The weight is unfamiliar, and she's anxious about how it will feel and sound when she fires it. Vashyron helps her steady it. Zephyr watches silently from the sidelines.

It shakes even more the first time she participates in real combat with real people. They'll _die_ if she pulls the trigger. She'll have _killed_ someone. But she pulls it anyway, because her team-mates are _relying_ on her. She still cries that night and Vashyron holds her and tells her that _"It's okay, it's difficult, I know."_

Nowadays she doesn't think twice. The gun is familiar, a lifeline, a certainty in a world where things don't ever look as certain as they should anymore. She stands tall, and she taunts her enemies from above.

It's easy.

**25\. Breathing**

Albona stinks of pollution, putrid and stifling. Level 10 to Vashyron is the epitome of everything wrong with the world. Starving people, men and women who can't find work. He sees kids dressed in a familiar hoodie at every corner, worshiping the _bedevilled_ boy from Cranktown. Zephyr fidgets and mutters about how he wants to get out of here. Leanne doesn't speak, but the pity and disgust is evident on her face.

It's a reminder, too. Albona is almost like Lucia. They return to Ebel City after the mission, and Vashyron breathes in the cleaner air like it's a drug. The smell of Albona lingers in his system, the smell of death and despair, and it's hard to purge.

**26\. Stumble**

Zephyr won't stop laughing at her and she'd like nothing more than to hobble over on her twisted ankle and give him a piece of her mind. Except she can't, because her heel is broken and they're in the middle of Dakota Vein and _her ankle is twisted._

"That'll teach you to fight in heels, Leanne!" Zephyr sputters like the child he is. She clenches her fists and glares up at him. He's only laughing because he knows she can't get over there and slap him.

Vashyron comes to her rescue though. Like a knight in shining armour he swoops down behind Zephyr, pulls his hood over his head and eyes and gives him a shove. Zephyr stops laughing abruptly and goes teetering forward, landing in a heap on the floor.

" _Vashyron!"_ Zephyr cries in indignation. "What the _hell?"_

Leanne smirks. Next time she's cooking, Vashyron will reap the rewards of a _huge_ dinner.

**27\. Fighting**

Sweet Home is silent. Doors have already been slammed, words have already been screamed, and now there isn't anything left to say. The day is over and they've each taken their anger to bed with them.

Come morning, it will have dissipated. Vashyron will laugh and shrug, say it's nothing. Zephyr won't look them in the eye as he mumbles a half hearted apology that deep down he wishes he could make sound more genuine. Leanne will smile and say she's sorry for yelling.

In the meantime they pretend they meant the hateful things they said about one another in the heat of the moment. They're not perfect. No one ever said they were.

**28\. Closing In**

Panic attacks still hit him. Zephyr, over thinking himself into oblivion in the middle of the night, in the morning, in late afternoon. His heart hammers and it gets harder to breathe in and out and he wants to _scream_ but he can't get the sound out, just like those kids who tried to yell for help when he-

Sometimes Vashyron is there, and he catches on instantly and he knows the techniques, knows how to get him breathing regularly again, how to calm his erratic heartbeat and get him to stop thinking. Sometimes, Leanne is there, and she panics too and starts babbling about everything and nothing to take his mind off it. Sometimes there is no one, and he's left alone to try and work through the terror himself.

They can't see his weakness when he's alone, but without them he's lost in memories that will swallow him whole.

He doesn't know which of the three scenarios he hates more.

**29\. Involved**

Vashyron is grinning as he waves the piece of paper in his hand. "Guess what, guys?" he says excitedly.

"What?" Zephyr asks flatly.

"Got us a job working for Barbarella. Her cooks have all caught some kind of cold so she needs stand ins. I told her we were the people for the job."

"You can't cook!" Leanne exclaims. "What were you thinking! None of us can make Cardinal quality meals!"

"Well we'd better get on that. She wants us up there ASAP."

Leanne grimaces. It's going to be a long day.

**30\. Destiny**

Destiny, miracles - it's all the same to Zephyr and he hates their concepts. Forced to walk down a pre-determined path - that's all he garnered from what they were taught back at the Seminary and he wants nothing more than to forget it all.

If it's true, that meant all of this was pre-planned. That someone was using him. That he is just a pawn in some big game of chess that this world wants to play.

He won't let it be true. He makes his own choices, miracles or no. There's no one pulling his strings. Not anymore.


	4. #31 - #40

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Of course," Miranda says. "The three of them do what they do because they have to do it. They don’t mean any harm to the people they come across everyday, they just…it’s the only way I think they know how to work."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My mindset was all over the place when I wrote these drabbles. I've been having a bad few days but apparently that's when I write my best. Sorry for the lateness! Some of these also got a bit longer than I wanted but alas.

**31\. Sweet**

Vashyron thinks that if he was any kind of hot beverage, he'd be tea. A calming force of nature, warm to the touch, an excellent shade of tan and great to taste. Yeah, he thinks. He'd definitely be tea.

Zephyr would be black coffee, overly bitter to the point of being eye watering. Hm, a warming drink that tries to choke the life out of you with its overpowering flavour. That fits Zephyr perfectly, Vashyron decides with a laugh.

And Leanne? Leanne would be hot chocolate. Inviting and sweet and heavenly and...why is he comparing them to hot beverages again?

Oh yeah. Maybe it's time to put the whisky away.

 

**32\. Calling**

Sometimes she imagines herself with a different life, a different job. Working in Lily's Boutique as a seamstress? Or maybe at the guild chronicling the requests that come in every day? Maybe she could have been a pharmacist, making medicine, or maybe she could have made fake flowers to make people smile.

Then she feels the gun in her hand, the adrenaline in her blood and the thrill of her companions beside her. Her calling is here, working as a PMF with Vashyron and Zephyr. Anywhere else would be wrong.

And besides, she fits in like the perfect puzzle piece in their complex little puzzle. 

**33\. Nightmare**

Zephyr ends up treading downstairs after the nightmare wakes him to wait out the rest of the night in the sitting room where he can hear Vashyron breathing and see the door to Leanne's room. It's much to his surprise when he gets there, however, that the two of them are also awake, sitting together on the couch.

"Bad night?" he asks them, trying to inject a sense of amusement into the words only to fail miserably. Instead his voice cracks and a flash of the seminary in ruins passes by his thoughts. Leanne tries to force a smile at him but it only comes out broken. Vashyron laughs humourlessly.

"That's one way to put it," he replies, voice soft and like how Zephyr remembers it from a time before Leanne, when nights like this were common and Vashyron was his only anchor.

It's hard to remember that the two of them aren't so different to him, that they have their own shadowed pasts, and in its own way it's comforting. He's not alone. He never was.

**34\. Flat**

Some days are like a fairground with rollercoaster's and Ferris wheels, full of adrenaline and blood pumping action. Maybe you rescue a kidnap victim by the skin of their teeth, or you triumph over gun wielding rebels. Maybe you take down a tar man, or even wrest a roast yeti dinner successfully from the oven. They're the best days.

Some days are excitement and brightly lit but others are flat and draining. A gunshot that reminds you of your own death, a height that gives you the sensation of falling, falling falling, a girl who could be the one who ripped through your chest with a cruel, cruel smirk.

The gunshot isn't the same, the height isn't like the clocktower, the girl smiles cheerfully and skips away - but it's enough to bring out those dark thoughts. Rain, rain, go away, you think.

Please don't come back another day.

**35\. Superstar**

"So, Cardinal Theresa sent us a request," Vashyron says with a rare air of formality beset by a tone of pure dread. "She's holding a pantomime for the kids on Chandelier this Christmas. Some old story. Peter Pan?"

"So what does that mean for us?" Zephyr asks flatly, propping his head up with one hand and drumming the fingers of his other on the table. "We putting up stage decorations or something?"

It dawns on Leanne before it does him and she feels a thrill go through her. "We're performing in a play?" she cries with excitement, clapping her hands together.

Vashyron grimaces. "Glad to see _someone's_ excited about this year's escapades."

**36\. Spiderweb**

Leanne watches the spider in the corner of the shower. It builds its web slowly, intricately, so carefully crafting its home.

She could spray it down, crush it, destroy its creation. It would be so easy, as easy as it is to break a crystal and take someone's life. Someone used to be bigger than her,  and they had her quartz in their possession, her life in their hands. Once, she was the spider in the web.

But Juris didn't do it. He didn't destroy her even though he could have.

She leaves the spider alone, and makes sure Zephyr and Vashyron do too.

**37\. Haunted**

"And so they say," Vashyron says as he shines the torch up at his face, "that Sweet Home was haunted ever since."

"Gimme a break," Zephyr scoffs, hugging a couch cushion to his chest. "Like someone actually died in here. You already told me that this used to be a factory, remember?"

"What if we're the ones haunting it though?" Leanne says thoughtfully. "What if there was no Sacred Sign? Like, could we be ghosts."

Zephyr and Vashyron are quiet for a long time. "Um, guys?"

"Right." Vashyron says quickly, shutting the torch off. Zephyr still hasn't moved. "Leanne's in charge of spooky stories next time. In the meantime, I need to go check that she's not _right_."

**38\. Rich**

Vashyron has a horrific, alcohol induced dream that night. He's a Cardinal - which is actually pretty cool, look at all this _money -_ but he's not the only _one._ On his left stands Cardinal Leanne looking very refined and beautiful and on his right is Cardinal Zephyr, slouching and still looking very Zephyr-like despite his regal clothing.

"I'm going to be Prelate," Leanne is saying, one arm linked with his. "Well, once the voting is over anyway. And then I'm going to marry Jean-Paulet! Isn't it great Vashyron?"

Zephyr chokes on what sounds like a laugh. "In your dreams," he says. "Vashyron's got the deciding vote, and he's gonna vote _me_ as Prelate."

Vashyron wakes just as he gets to vote - _thank Zenith -_ and stares at the ceiling for a very long time, disturbed at the thought of _either_ of them as Prelate. 

 

**39, Everybody**

Zephyr cannot believe everyone on 11th Street - no, hold on, that's not right, more like the _entirety of Ebel City_ is crammed in their front room right now. He's squished between Rose and Posey, the two of them wishing him a Happy Birthday while he's busy internally wishing for Vashyron's _death._ "Um, thanks," he fires off rapidly, trying to un-squish himself from them, "but have you two seen Vashyron?"

Posey, the wonderful woman she is, uses her superior height to spy him over by the beer cabinet. Muttering his thanks, he forces his way through Leanne trying to grab him and shove a cone hat on his head, Izzy attempting to offer him a discounted room renovation and Miranda throwing a new jacket over his shoulders to get to the man. "Vashyron," he says, voice quiet but brimming with what he likes to think is an acceptable amount of danger.

"Yes, Zephyr?" Vashyron replies proudly, a cone hat on his own head. Already a victim of Leanne, it seems.

"Why did you invite _the whole town?"_

And then Vashyron grabs him around the neck, shoves the neck of the bottle in his mouth and suddenly he's drinking the most vile beverage he's ever had the pleasure of tasting. "Happy 18th, kid," he says, pulling it back and taking his own swig. "Now get pissed and have fun."

 

**40\. Meant no harm**

"I remember hearing Vashyron was once a recruit in the army." Alcott says to the other townspeople when they query him on what he knows about the trio that occupy the old house on 11th Street. "Makes sense, I suppose. I heard he was the last one standing after a tragedy?"

"Apparently," Rose says, eager for the gossip, "Leanne comes from Chandelier! Who would have thought? Oh my, if I were here-"

"I don't believe it." Lily cuts in. "Why would a young woman from Chandelier ever want to leave?"

"Must have been trouble or she never would've gone, huh?" Izzy says. "The one who I'm really interested in is Zephyr."

"I remember when Vashyron brought him home." Posey interjects. "All covered in blood in his arms...I can't imagine what happened."

"They're all just kids," Daniel says. "Kids who probably had bad things happen to them."

"Of course," Miranda says. "They do what they do because they have to do it. They don't mean any harm to the people they come across everyday, they just...it's the only way I think they know how to work."

"Isn't it a shame?" Betty sighs. "They're such nice people. I wonder what really happened to them?"

The Guildmaster only says, "Perhaps it's for the best that we don't know."


	5. #41 - #50

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It could almost be a fable, their story. The soldier who fell from grace and lost it all, the boy possessed by the devil who caused a catastrophic event, the woman who plummeted from the sky to escape her fate of death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I MADE IT TO THE END GUYS and I'm very proud of myself for just that. I worked in an AU into this selection, as the final five prompts were writers choice. I hope you like it. So, here's a big thanks from me to anyone who's read this. It means so much to me, especially when I update so sporadically! I hope you enjoy the final ten!

**41\. Apple**

The fruit outside is fresh and new. Leanne almost doesn’t want to eat it, doesn’t think she _can,_ instead marvelling at the perfect roundness of each fruit on the tall, tall tree. If she had known what was out here, all of the beauty and wonder, she would have pioneered to leave Basel sooner. 

Zephyr picks one of the fruits up from where it’s fallen on the grass and takes a bite from it before she can even say anything. It sounds crunchy, not what she expected; even Vashyron looks a little surprised. “Don’t come cryin’ to me when you realise you’ve poisoned yourself.” he says, half laughing.

Zephyr simply rolls his eyes, and then takes another bite. “It’s not bad. Kinda juicy actually.” he says, extending his arm to Leanne. “Want some?”

“No way,” she says, picking up her own. “I don’t want _your_ sloppy seconds!”

**42\. Darling**

Vashyron’s repertoire of pet names is second to none, or so he likes to think. Sweetcheeks, cupcake, princess, honey, sweetheart – he could pen his own dictionary of them, adding his own notes of who responds well to what and who will burn you in fiery hell for even dreaming of calling them ‘muffin’.

And then there are the kids. He doesn’t really know if it’s appropriate to call them ‘darling’ or ‘kiddo’ or not and he doesn’t really care either. It’s all in jest, after all, and it gets the best rise out of them when Leanne scowls or starts blushing or Zephyr gets embarrassed and shouts at him for it.

If he’s got to be their dad, he’s at least going to be an embarrassing one.

**43\. Name**

None of them have surnames. Well – Vashyron knows that isn’t quite true. He’s got a last name, Zephyr probably did have one once upon a time. Leanne, well, he’s a bit spotty on the details there but she had to have had parents _once._ It’s more of a question of them not telling each other their last names then them not having them, and he’s never told them his.

And why should they? Vashyron’s isn’t of any importance with them, at least. His family are long gone, and Zephyr and Leanne probably don’t care enough to want to know. First names are fine. Last names are just a formality they don’t need.

Maybe one day they’ll discuss it, but for now he thinks it’s just fine.

 

**44\. By my side**

Zephyr plays a game with himself sometimes, just after a fight is over and they’re regrouping. He closes his eyes, counts to five, and then opens them again. If Vashyron and Leanne are still beside him, he wins. If they’re not, something’s wrong and he lost.

Games are supposed to be fun, but he’s not out for entertainment. They’re all he’s got and he doesn’t _know_ what he’d do if he _did_ lose his little game. He can’t imagine a world with one of them gone, can’t even begin to comprehend his own feelings on such a scenario.

He takes the breath and shuts his eyes. _One. Two. Three. Four. Five._

He opens them, and they’re still there.

**45.Mountains**

She’s come so far, and it hasn’t been easy. It is still only recently she spread her wings and took off into the world, shed her naivety and matured but she’s overcome every obstacle and _grown_ as a result.

And maybe in another life Leanne didn’t jump, didn’t fall only to be caught and rise up above it all. But here, she did. She jumped as death chased after her only to cheat it. She found her place in the world and she grow alongside her companions. She ran only to stop and face her troubles. She can take it. She can take on everything now.

There’ll always be more mountains, but they were only ever put there for her to climb.

**46\. Modern**

“Check out these sweet threads,” Vashyron says, modelling the bright yellow jeans and jacket in the back of Lily’s Boutique. “Lily’s using me for her new catalogue. Gonna be the face of PARAGON. The chicks are going to dig it.”

“You’re modelling one set of clothes, Vashyron.” Leanne points out. “You’re not ‘the face’ of PARAGON.”

“What are you saying? I’m changing careers. I’m going to be a modern day man. Modern men model clothes.”

“I thought modern men worked in taxing rubies.” Zephyr muses, and the flash of Lily’s camera goes off.

The Sexual Hunter range is a hit, perhaps for the manly image of the model whose face is set in rage in the catalogue.

**47\. Christmas**

They play secret Santa one year, six presents sitting under the steel tree. It’s not as if it’s difficult to guess – they’ve only got two presents each – but they have fun all the same.

Vashyron opens a porn magazine and a bottle of beer, and actually that one would have been difficult if Leanne hadn’t started sniggering at the more obscene present of the two. He’d never have pinned that one on her. Zephyr’s wide eyed stare says it all.

Zephyr himself opens a water pistol and a new jacket. That would have been an easy pin – except he’s wrong. “Year of joke presents,” Leanne shrugs. He can’t wrap his head around the fact that Vashyron brought him a normal present.

Leanne rips off the paper to a luxurious coat lined on the inside with fleece, and a pair of knee high, lace up boots. The price tag has been left on the boots, meaning it was definitely Zephyr. Vashyron would never make that mistake.

If only Christmas dinner went as swimmingly as the gift giving.

**48\. Cyber (AU)**

And Vashyron really doesn’t know why he bothers. He turns his head and Zephyr’s sparking at the joints or Leanne’s smiling sheepishly because she got water in her inner workings again. He sighs, but he fixes them up regardless because even though they’re just wires covered in synthetic skin, he likes them anyway.

Maybe it’s because he’s a mechanic. Maybe it’s because once upon a time a virus messed up Zephyr and he’s still got that guilt complex over the murders. Maybe it’s because he knows nothing about Leanne except she’s scared of something in her past.

Or maybe he just likes them for their personalities, which are delightfully complex for androids (and which he could never, ever replicate.)

 

**49\. Fairytale**

It could almost be a fable, their story. The soldier who fell from grace and lost it all, the boy possessed by the devil who caused a catastrophic event, the woman who plummeted from the sky to escape her fate of death.

But that isn’t the story, that’s just the background. Here is their fairytale.

The soldier who found a reason to live for again, the boy who turned the horrors of his past into the cause of his future, the woman who found everything was always in her grasp.

This is their story, through the good and bad.

**50\. Family**

The flu got them all, leaving them sprawled over the sofa as sick as poison gremlins. It had started with Vashyron, coughing and hacking and then throwing up last night’s yeti steak all over the floor. Then it had gotten to Zephyr after he’d spent the day sitting on the edge of the sofa as Vashyron moaned and groaned while Leanne shopped for clothes on the pretence of buying medicine. Of course, it had gotten to her after that after she’d rushed around after the two of them, keeping them hydrated and forcing soup down their throats.

“I hate you,” Zephyr mumbles, prodding Vashyron lightly. “Spreading illness like this.”

“Spreading shit is what I do best,” Vashyron coughs back. Leanne makes an unintelligible sound, and then rests her head against Zephyr’s chest.

“Guess we do everything together,” she says. “Even get sick.”

They laugh, briefly, and then spend the rest of the day taking turns running to the bathroom.


End file.
